Free_On_Balance

Free On Balance Free on Balance What does one mean when he/she makes the statement, “John is more free than Richard”' Joel Feinberg suggests that making such a statement means grouping different kinds of freedoms together. A more complete statement is perhaps; “John is freer on balance than Richard.” Free on balance means that all one’s freedoms are, in a sense, summed up, and that a certain value may be given to all one’s freedoms as a collective group. The fact that this grouping may be inappropriate is demonstrated by the difficulty in comparing someone who is free to do x but not y with someone else who is free to do y but not x. To logically choose which person is freer (on balance) requires an assessment of freedom x and freedom y and a placing of value on both. For example, if a person is free to leave the house but not free to make criticism of anything he/she sees, saying he/she is less free than someone else who cannot leave the house but can make any criticisms he/she wishes simply means that the freedom to criticize is more valuable than the freedom of movement. free, freedom, freedoms, balance, person, he/she, music, values, value, statement, someone, means, listening, listen, freer, volume, valuable, richard, placing, others, one’s, one, make, leave, john, house, grouping, feinberg, else, different, conflict, cannot, without, wishes